Product Details
From improved accuracy and faster performance, to an intuitive user interface with a rich help system, powerful new voice commands and an enhanced correction and adaptation process, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 has been redesigned to be FASTER, BETTER and SMARTER. For those familiar with the suite of Nuance products, the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred has now been branded the Premium edition.
Most people speak over 120 words per minute, but type less than 40 words a minute. That means you can create documents and emails about three times faster with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking never makes a spelling mistake and it actually gets smarter the more you use it
Version 11.5
Those users who have already purchased either Dragon 11 Premium or Professional versions can also upgrade free of charge, contact VoicePower to find out how.
The Dragon user interface now offers better usability, and includes a new Sidebar showing tips as well as many commands. It’s now easier to discover, remember and access important Dragon features and options. New Recognition Analytics continuously monitor audio quality and alert users when there is an audio issue, to help them achieve their best accuracy. More than ever, Dragon 11.5 enables users to focus on their thoughts and ideas rather than the mouse, keyboard or computer screen.
Dragon 11.5 is more accurate out of the box than version 10, and uses state-of-the-art technology. Thanks to improvements at various levels, corrections are faster to make, and quickly become less necessary. Version 11.5 “learns” better than any previous version, including from existing documents and dictations as well as from corrections made via the keyboard. Dragon 11.5 responds faster to voice commands and also introduces new time-saving commands that consolidate multiple mouse clicks and keystrokes. It’s faster and easier to open applications, get to a particular window, move within a window, send email, create appointments, search the Web, and more – all by voice. So now users can get even more done faster on their computers.
IMPROVED ACCURACY
Reduced Word Recognition Errors: Dragon 11.5 significantly improved recognition accuracy and can reduce recognition errors up to 15% compared with Dragon 10. This means Dragon 11.5 recognises speech more accurately right out of the box so users will spend less time correcting recognition errors.
Smart Configuration: Dragon 11.5 runs on a variety of hardware, from small netbooks to high-powered servers. Dragon automatically detects hardware resources and sets up the recommended configuration. Dragon’s state-of-the-art technology takes advantage of advances in hardware and runs in multiple-threads automatically when multi-core hardware is detected to achieve better recognition performance.
Easy Scheduling of Accuracy Tuning: This automatic process plays a large role in improving a user’s accuracy from his or her own usage, since it adapts the profile based on what dictations and corrections have already been done. It must run at a time when the computer is on, but the user is not dictating. In version 11.5, scheduling Accuracy Tuning no longer requires a Windows password, so the user can easily choose a time and frequency that fit his or her schedule. Similarly, no password is required to schedule the Data Collection process (which periodically sends to Nuance anonymous usage data to improve the accuracy of future updates of Dragon).
Recognition Analytics: Because a significant percentage of misrecognitions can be caused by simple audio quality issues such as incorrect microphone connection or placement, background noise and Bluetooth microphone out of range or low on battery, Dragon now automatically detects poor audio input; it then alerts the user (in various ways depending on the issue), offering advice to remedy the situation. This lets Dragon use the best audio possible -- an important factor for accuracy.
- Faster Recognition Response for Commands and Dictation
Faster Response Times: Dragon 11.5 improved recognition response time significantly. It is also faster than previous editions when selecting application menu items by voice or executing voice commands that perform actions within applications (e.g., "insert page break," "make that red," etc.) - New User Interface
Dictate faster and more efficiently: Dragon quickly processes the recognition of speech in the background, and instead of the Results box of previous versions, displays only a discreet indicator that recognition is in progress; this encourages continuous speech, an important factor for accuracy. Novice users are no longer distracted by watching the preliminary recognition results pooling and changing within the Results box before text is inserted into the document. (The traditional Results box is still available as an option.) - New Dragon Sidebar: A major enhancement over Version 10’s Sample Commands window, this new desktop assistant allows users to discover and remember many commands and tips; at any time, it lets you glance at or explore global commands (including mouse commands), application-specific commands and custom-created commands, as well as tips. The Dragon Sidebar is a thin, resizable and dockable window that can be placed anywhere on the Windows desktop. Its contents change depending on what window is currently active. In addition, the Sidebar lets users print its content.
- Richer Help system: The redesigned Accuracy Center (accessible from the Help menu) now gathers all important tools and options, with brief descriptions of key items to help discovery. The Help system also incorporates new tips and illustrations, a redesigned Tutorial, short videos and easy access to related details such as a glossary of key terms. Finding relevant information is faster and easier thanks also to icon links on the Dragon Sidebar and contextual links on dialog boxes – as well as new voice shortcuts you can speak at any time (“Search Dragon Help for…”).
- More usable toolbar (the DragonBar): The naming and organisation of items on the DragonBar now allow users to discover and quickly access important but often-overlooked Dragon features, such as the Vocabulary Editor, the analysis of specific documents, scheduled tasks, and recognition modes (Dictation Mode, Numbers Mode, etc.). Now docked to the top of the screen by default, the DragonBar gathers in one area all its indicators: icons and written messages.
- Text Control Indicator on the DragonBar: This checkmark icon on the DragonBar indicates whether Dragon currently has "Full Text Control" for the active text field. Formerly called “Select-and-Say”, “Full Text Control” enables capabilities such as the use of commands that quote words from the text (“Select…”, “Correct…”, “Delete…”, “Insert Before…”). When the insertion point is in a field for which Dragon does not have “Full Text Control”, Dragon dims this checkmark icon and writes a message in the DragonBar; this informs the user that he or she may wish to dictate via Dragon’s Dictation Box which gives access to Dragon’s full capabilities to edit and correct text (as in previous versions).
- Improved Correcting and Editing
Handling multiple matches in text: Now when users issue voice commands to select, correct, edit or format a word or phrase and there are multiple matches for what they said in their document, Dragon displays a number next to each match. Users can then choose whether to apply the command to one or all of the numbered items, so they save time by directly addressing a specific spot or addressing multiple spots all at once. This also applies to the commands “delete…”, “copy…”, “insert before…”, and more. - Dragon Learns from all Corrections: In the past, corrections entered using the keyboard were not incorporated into the user profile. Now when a user dictates something and retypes it to correct a misrecognition, Dragon identifies this as a correction and uses it to adapt the user’s profile, improving its accuracy over time.
- Enhanced Correction Menu: The Correction Menu now suggests more alternate recognitions by default and enables users to quickly add phrases to the vocabulary, or to prevent an undesired word from being recognised. (Words that have been deleted from the Vocabulary can be restored if desired, and can now be seen from the Vocabulary Editor’s Display list.)
- More usable Spelling Window: Formerly named “Spell Dialog”, this window (allowing users to type or spell out something Dragon was not able to transcribe) is now more intuitive. If one of the alternatives in its list is almost correct, the user can now say “modify n” -- the number of the desired alternative. (As before, users can also double-click a desired alternative, or say “choose n”.)
- Time-Saving Voice Commands
More Dragon Voice Shortcuts: Dragon 11.5 includes more commands than ever to consolidate multiple mouse clicks and keystrokes into a direct voice command that can be spoken anytime -- no matter what is active on the screen. Users can now use the "search [website] for [XYZ]" commands to make precise searches in Facebook.com, Twitter and Bing. Dragon 11.5 also lets users voice keyword searches in its Help topics (“Search Dragon Help for [XYZ]”), and includes new voice shortcuts that make it faster and easier to manage email, tasks and meetings. - Navigating the Computer Desktop: Dragon now supports more voice commands to show common Windows elements including the desktop and Control Panel, or folders such as My Documents and My Pictures. New commands enable users to effortlessly switch to a specific window (Dragon displays a numbered list so the user can just say the number of the desired window.) In addition, Dragon 11.5 allows shorter names for starting popular applications (e.g., "start Microsoft Word" instead of “start Microsoft Office Word 2007”).
- Navigating Documents: Dragon 11.5 allows users to scroll up or down pages within programs including Word, Outlook, Excel, and more, with the same command wordings such as “Start scrolling down,” “Speed up” and “Stop scrolling.”
- More Precise Keyword Searching: For its search shortcut commands, Dragon 11.5 now applies its autoformatting rules to the dictated search keywords (the XYZ in “Search … for XYZ”). In addition, it gives the user the option to edit or augment the search string before launching the search (without this option, the user must say the entire search command in one utterance: Dragon will launch the search as soon as it hears a pause). These enhancements can save a lot of time, since the more precise your search string, the faster you find exactly what you need.
- Getting Started with Dragon is Faster and Easier
Faster and Easier to Create a User Profile: User profile creation has been redesigned to be simple and conversational. The process now offers information about why each step is needed and helps users make optimal choices. Setting up a microphone or new audio source is more clear and straightforward. - Local Settings: During user profile creation, users can now select their region of the world so that Dragon can automatically use regional formatting for dates, currency, etc. New Text Options to “Train” Dragon: Dragon 11.5 provides simplified training texts designed to make the reading experience easier and more informative.
- Easier than Ever to Use Dragon with a Digital Voice Recorder(not available for Dragon Home)
Initial Training Time Reduced for Recorders: Creating a new user profile for a digital recorder, or adding a digital recorder as a new audio source for an existing user profile, is now much faster: the minimum reading time required to train Dragon with a recorder has been reduced from 15 to 4 minutes. - Ability to Use .DSS and .DS2 Files: Dragon 11.5 can now accept .dss and .ds2 formats directly. Files recorded using these digital speech recording formats (found on recorders from Olympus, Grundig and Philips) previously required conversion prior to transcription.
- Improved Playback (available only in Premium, Professional and Medical versions) Smoother fast-forward and rewind behaviours are now available and users now have options to control speed and volume.
- Enhanced Hardware and Software Support
Netbook Computers: Users can now comfortably view the Dragon user interface and tutorials on netbook (mini notebook) computers. - Office 2010: Dragon 11.5 is compatible with Microsoft Office 2010 applications. Full Text Control, Menu Tracking and Natural Language Commands are supported for Word 2010, Outlook 2010 and Excel 2010 allowing users to take full advantage of Dragon dictation and commands in these new applications.
OpenOffice Writer: Support includes dictation, correction, selection and playback. - Additional Usability Enhancements
Require “Click” to Select Hyperlinks: This option is now enabled by default so that, while in a Web page, users don’t experience unexpected actions upon saying a short phrase which is also the name of a hyperlink on the page.
Enhanced Open User Dialog for Large Sites (Pro +): Displays profiles in a tree structure for faster access to multiple profiles.
Will Premium Suffice?
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is also available in a Professional copy. To ensure Premium is the correct choice for you please check you DO NOT require the functions listed below;
- Third party correction
- Advanced scripting, macros and shortcut command creation
- Roaming profile options or enterprise wide deployment
- Addition of a professional vocabulary (e.g. medial, legal)
- Navigation of the web, databases and office programmes by voice alone
- Compatibility with EMRs (Electonic Medical Records) (Dragon Medical version required)
If any of these features are amongst your requirements, please see Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional version 11.5
Training & Support
VoicePower specialises in the provision of training and support to speech recognition users. Training is typically conducted on a one to basis and ensures the optimum set up and installation is achieved. Trainees are equipped with the skills necessary to master the technology; to maximise productivity, efficiency and ease of use.
Recommended System Specification:
Intel® Pentium® / 2.4 GHz processor (1.6 GHz dual core processor) or equivalent AMD processor. Faster processors will yield faster performance. 1 GB RAM (Windows Vista™ will benefit from as much memory as possible). Free hard disk space: 2 GB, DVD-ROM drive (required for installation). Nuance-approved noise-cancelling headset microphone (included) - other models and hand-held input devices available. A web connection is required for activation.
Supported Operating Systems:
Windows Server 2003, Win XP SP2 or higher - 32 bit - Home & Prof, Win 2000 SP4 or higher, Windows Vista™ or Windows Vista™ SP1 (all 4 editions), Windows 7. 32 and 63 bit is now supported. L2 Cache: 1 MB.
Please note that v11.5 is compatible with 64 bit processors